WORK TO START ON VOLNEY BIODIESEL PLANT; PROJECT LEADERS HOPE TO BE MAKING FUEL FROM SOYBEAN OIL BY MIDYEAR, A FIRST FOR STATE.(Business)
From: The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) Date: January 20, 2007
Byline: Tim Knauss Staff writer
A long-awaited biodiesel facility is scheduled to be built soon at the former Miller brewery outside Fulton and should begin producing biodiesel from soybean oil by the middle of this year, project leaders said Friday.
The GS Fulton Biodiesel plant at Riverview Business Park, in Volney, will make 10 million gallons of fuel per year and will be the first commercial-scale biodiesel plant in the state, said John Fox, president of Homeland Energy Biofuels, a partner in the project.
"We're just waiting for the final engineering plans," Fox said.
The facility will be built next to the Northeast Biofuels ethanol plant. Construction of the Northeast Biofuels plant started in the fall.
In 2005, NextGen Fuel Inc. proposed to build the biodiesel plant to make 5 million gallons per year, using technology developed at Clarkson University and commercialized by NextGen. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority awarded NextGen a $250,000 grant for the project in June 2005.
NextGen was acquired in November by GS AgriFuels Corp., of New York City, a public company with stock trading on the over-the-counter bulletin board. The Volney biodiesel plant is being developed by GS Fulton Biodiesel LLC, a partnership between GS AgriFuels and Homeland Energy.
GS AgriFuels is the majority owner, Fox said.
"We hope to begin hiring shortly and commence biodiesel production by mid-2007," said Thomas Scozzafava, president and chief executive officer of GS AgriFuels, in a prepared statement.
The biodiesel plant will employ 12 to 15 people when it's up and running, Fox said.
Equipment for the plant will be manufactured in Ohio by Warnecke Design Inc., then shipped to Volney for installation, Fox said.
GS Fulton Biodiesel plans to sell its output to fuel oil distributors, who typically blend it with conventional diesel, Fox said. The most common blends are 5 percent to 20 percent biodiesel, he said.
"We think that the best use for the fuel right now is for home heating oil," Fox said. "You get the advantage of lower emissions from the fuel, and it actually has a detergent effect. It cleans the boilers."
Depending on the price of standard heating oil, adding biodiesel might result in a higher price, Fox said.
"Right now, you are paying a slight premium," Fox said. "Back when prices for heating oil were $2.50 to $3, it was at pricing parity."
You can contact Staff Writer Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 470-3023.
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